Once a computer turns seven years old, Apple sunsets it into forced retirement, kind of like that movie Logan’s Run. Instead of a time-telling crystal embedded in each laptop’s hand, it’s more of a metaphorical clock that ticks down.
Indeed, the retired models will continue to work. They won’t get the kind of care that’ll extend their lives much longer.
The three new models are the 11” MacBook Air (early 2015), 13” MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports (2017), and 15” MacBook Pro (2017). That means that Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers will no longer provide repairs for these models.
Credit MacRumors with being the first to notice (and publish the news, at least) that Apple had snuck the three MacBooks onto its ever-expanding list of obsolete models. To nobody’s surprise, Apple wasn’t exactly trumpeting the news in press releases.
The three MacBooks join the iPhone 8 Plus models with 64GB and 256GB of storage as the newest entries into the Apple retirement home. If Fox hasn’t picked that up as America’s next big reality show, then I don’t know what the hell they’re waiting for.
As long as the parts are available, Apple says MacBooks may be eligible for an extended, battery-only repair period of up to 10 years “after the product was last distributed,” meaning from when your specific model was last sold new by Apple, not from the date you bought it.
That, at least, buys you some time if your old MacBook is still working fine and only seeing the normal, predicted aging effects of long-term lithium-ion battery degradation.
I’m all for people squeezing as much use out of their tech products as they can. It doesn’t just keep junk out of landfills. It also saves you money.
